BIRDS OF PREY 23 



many miles in its bird's-eye view. But the habit seems to 

 have passed on into an exercise of sheer pleasure ; the 

 buzzard spinning its slow rings over the cliff or the sea of 

 tree-tops on a sunny day does so because it does it well, and 

 enjoys it. 



The hawks we have called the dashers are the most 

 active if not the most buoyant fliers, and pursue their quarry 

 by sheer speed of wing. The peregrine is the noblest of our 

 hawks, except perhaps the almost extinct osprey, and in 

 many respects is a finer bird than the golden eagle. The 

 reputed king of birds is in actual truth a glorified buzzard 

 and no true falcon. He has the buzzard's heaviness, except 

 when fairly upon the wing, and the buzzard's weakness for 

 carrion, which is no monarch's diet. The peregrine feeds 

 exclusively on living game, and its skill, speed, and daring 

 in chasing its prey made it the most prized of our native 

 hawks for falconry. It sometimes seizes its victim in its 

 claws and makes off with it, but its finest method of capture 

 is to cut down the bird it pursues — grouse, pigeon, or what- 

 ever it may be — by a stroke of its talons. It then collects 

 the disabled bird at its leisure. As with the kestrel and 

 other hawks, the female or falcon proper is much larger than 

 the male or tiercel. A recent observer of the peregrine's 

 life states that this inversion of the usual proportions is 

 accompanied by a partial exchange of the parental duties. 

 According to his observations, after the young birds are a 

 few days old the male stays at home and broods them, while 

 the female hunts for prey. She is clearly the best fitted to 

 play the part of hunter for a very hungry family ; but it is 

 difficult to find any original reason for the female being the 

 stouter bird as for the assumption of the usual brightness of 

 male plumage and the active functions of courtship by the 

 females of certain species of Australian quail, and our own 



